IFS Broker

1. General

Brokers and importers play an important role in the value chain since they have a strong influence on the supply chain through their choice of suppliers. Trading partners expect brokers and importers to communicate their product requirements to manufacturers and that these will be understood and implemented. For this reason IFS has developed the new standard IFS Broker for brokers and importers in order to examine how these processes are implemented. The new standard has been created on the basis of IFS Food and incorporates experience gained in supplier audits in the retail trade.

The new IFS Broker checks to see whether brokers / importers have implemented appropriate measures in their processes to ensure that their suppliers operate in accordance with food safety and quality requirements and to monitor compliance in order for the products supplied to meet legal requirements and contractual specifications.

The basis for the new IFS Broker is IFS Food version 5. However, the criteria that do not apply to brokers / importers have been removed from the checklist. Furthermore, new criteria have been developed to accommodate the processes within a broker's / importer's operations. The checklist includes a total of 71 requirements.

Chapters taken from the IFS standard (and partially modified):

• Responsibility of company management
• Quality management systems
  • Including risk management/reduced HACCP
• Resource management
• Service provision – with the main areas of focus
  • Contract verification
  • Product specifications
  • Traceability
  • Measurement / analysis / improvement

Newly formulated chapters / requirements for brokers

• Product development
• Purchasing – with the main areas of focus
  • Supplier selection and continuous supplier assessment
  • Product packaging
  • Product analysis

2. Differences between IFS Food and IFS Broker

Differences to IFS Food:

• The HACCP concept has been substantially reduced
• The demands on the manufacturing process have been removed
• The demands on the infrastructure and the working environment have been removed

If brokers / importers have their own warehouse and conduct transportation on their own behalf, these parts of their operations must be certified in accordance with IFS Logistic.

This has given rise to a modular system of certification that can be applied in a flexible way to the processes of brokers and importers.

3. IFS Broker for Food, HPC and Non-Food

IFS Broker has been developed in such a way that it can be used for all brokers irrespective of the products. The original HACCP concept has been adapted in such a way that it can be applied to brokers in the Food area and also used to assess risk management in the areas of Non-Food and HPC.

IFS Broker is initially only being offered to brokers / importers. After IFS HPC is introduced in early 2010, IFS Broker will be extended to include the product scope of IFS HPC. Brokers / importers of Non-Food products not covered by IFS HPC will be able to be audited in accordance with IFS HPC from the middle of 2010 onwards when the training modules for auditors have been completed.

4. IFS Certification Process / KO Requirements

The certification process corresponds to that of the IFS Food standard:

• Basic level at 75% - 95%
• Higher level from 95%
• The validity of the certificate is 12 months irrespective of the level
• Registration of the audit reports, control measure plans and certificates in the audit portal
• A / B / C and D assessments
• Major non-conformities (similar to the IFS Food definitions)

K.O. criteria

• Responsibility of the company management (no. 1 K.O. criteria in IFS)
• HACCP / risk management (with the demands on HACCP substantially reduced)
• Customer specifications
• Traceability
• Internal audits
• Product recall and take-back
• Handling of non-compliant products
• Corrective actions
• Product analysis requested by the customer

5. Audit Duration and Frequency

The minimum audit duration is 8 hours. The audit duration depends on the size of the organisation, the number of suppliers and customers and the scope of service activities.

The audit frequency is 12 months independent of the level of the previous certificate.

6. Accreditation and IFS Framework Agreement

Existing IFS Food accreditation includes IFS Broker. No further accreditation is required.

The current IFS agreement will be extended to include IFS Broker.

7. Auditor Training

The audits must be conducted by certified IFS auditors who have been trained for the standard and for the processes in the agencies. Participation in a training course is compulsory in order to obtain certification.

Training programmes in German and English will be offered initially. Training programmes in French and Italian are then planned for the middle of 2010.

As far as auditors are concerned, IFS Broker will differentiate between different auditor scopes in order to take account of the different product requirements. Auditor certification is divided into three categories because customers place very different demands on the nature of the goods to be traded and because there are differences between the Food, HPC and Non-Food categories.

1. Food auditors for Food brokers
2. HPC auditors for HPC brokers
3. Non-food auditors for Non-food brokers

IFS will initially only offer training and award certification for the 1st auditor scope “Food“. Every IFS Food auditor can attend training for IFS Food brokers and gain certification for auditing Food brokers.

When IFS HPC is introduced in early 2010, training programmes will be offered for HPC auditors, who will be able to qualify to audit HPC brokers.

An advanced training module for the auditing of Non-food brokers will also be offered for IFS HPC auditors in the course of 2010.

8. Costs per Audit

The cost for each uploaded audit is € 150.00.

9. Costs for IFS Broker Standard

The standard can be ordered as hardcopy fromIFS ManagementGmbH, Am Weidendamm 1 A, 10117 Berlin. It will be published initially in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. It will cost € 59.00 plus VAT and delivery. The standard will be available in January 2010.